


Morning will see you better

by Lakritzwolf



Category: Spartacus Series (TV)
Genre: First Kiss, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-24
Updated: 2018-01-24
Packaged: 2019-03-08 20:38:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13466103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lakritzwolf/pseuds/Lakritzwolf
Summary: “Sleep now, little man,” Agron said again, caressing Nasir’s cheek. “Morning will see you better.” He dropped a soft kiss between Nasir’s eyebrows.





	Morning will see you better

**Author's Note:**

  * For [shinigami714](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shinigami714/gifts).



> This is based on the idea that there was something between the moment Agron discovers Nasir still alive, if barely so, and the moment Nasir leaves the temple and Agron shares a kiss with him. Just playing with the thought that it was not their first kiss ever, only the first one we see.

Listening to the cicadas singing their endless song, out there past the courtyard, Agron sat on the stairs to the temple itself staring at the night sky. His mouth a thin line he gritted his teeth every now and then, and every other breath was a heavy sigh.

He kept casting quick looks at the men on guard duty up on the wall but shook his head every time. Because even more often, he found himself looking over his shoulder at the temple entrance.

And cursing himself for a fool in two languages, he eventually got up and entered the temple. When he found the room where Nasir was resting under the care of Medicus and whoever was assisting him, he paused and took a deep breath. 

Mira looked up at him, a question in her eyes.

“I cannot find rest,” Agron said in a low voice. “Find sleep yourself, I can watch over him.”

After instructing him as to the use of the pain-relieving medicine she got up, but kept watching him with narrowed eyes. Agron met those eyes squarely and unflinching.

“Do you think I would take advantage of him in his state?”  
Her eyes softened. “We all saw the looks exchanged between the two of you. But I believe you a better man than that.”  
Agron lowered his head for a moment. “Gratitude.”

She smiled and was gone, and Agron was left with Nasir whose shallow breathing was the only sound in the room. 

Nasir had more dead than alive when they had found them, the four who had remained after Naevia’s rescue, and he still was not out of danger. His skin was pale, and there were lines on his forehead that bespoke of the pain that followed him even into sleep.

Agron looked at the face of the young man lying before him, shook his head again and soundlessly uttered a single, yet heartfelt word: _Fool._

As if he had heard him, Nasir took a shallow, shaky breath and opened his eyes. They widened in uncomfortable surprise when he realised it wasn’t Mira at his bedside.

“Peace,” Agron said softly. “I felt sleep elude me and relieved Mira of duty.”

Nasir nodded and looked at the ceiling again. 

“How do you feel?” Agron asked.  
“I have been in better condition,” Nasir replied, his voice rough.  
“No doubt.” 

After a moment, Nasir turned his head and looked at Agron, the ghost of a smile on his face. “I take it you are not here to press advantage of nightly quietness.”  
“For what kind of man do you take me?” Agron replied with a frown.  
“Peace. If I took you for such I would not be jesting,” Nasir said with a chuckle that immediately turned into a wince of pain. “Or attempting to.”

Agron breathed out an almost mirthless chuckle himself. “We have been playing this game quite aptly, have we not?”  
“What game?” Nasir looked at him again.  
“The game of coy looks, stolen glances, and cocky jests.”  
Nasir smiled, a crooked smile with a hint of mischief despite the tiredness in his eyes. “Your looks are all but coy.”

This time, the chuckle was real and Agron shook his head with a smile. “No,” he said. “Agron is many things, but subtle, he is not.”  
“You can say that twice and it would still be only half true.” 

They exchanged a grin. 

“Since you are awake,” Agron said after a moment, his smile gone again, “I would break words, if you will.”  
Nasir’s smile vanished abruptly. “Words,” he said flatly.

Agron straightened up and with a sigh, rubbed one hand across the back of his neck. 

The silence stretched, became heavy and thick and almost palpable, yet Agron did not look at Nasir again. 

“You do have the look of a man with something weighing on his soul,” Nasir eventually said into the heavy silence.  
“I do,” Agron replied slowly. “And yet I know not how to part with it.”  
“Maybe sharing your thoughts can ease your burden,” Nasir said, his voice softening as much as his eyes. “Is that not what you came for?”  
“In all honesty, I am not sure myself why I came here.”  
“You wanted to break words.”

Agron took a deep breath. “Yes,” he said, almost a whisper. “I wanted to. I should. And yet...”  
“And yet?” Worry stood in Nasir’s eyes. 

“If I... I will have you know one thing,” Agron began in a heavy voice. “I am not a man of words. I will... I am...” He broke off with an angry sigh. “I...” He tried anew. “Nasir... none of the words I try to say are... are meant as offence. Yet I fear they might seem.”  
Nasir nodded. “Speak then,” he said. “I will take no offence knowing it was not intended.”

“I am... it concerns the games we spoke of.”  
Nasir’s mouth tightened, and he nodded. “You would have us pursue them no longer.”  
“I...” Agron shook his head, then he leaned back and combed his fingers through his hair. “Fuck the gods.”

Nasir watched him with a face bar of all emotion now. 

“If I...” Agron began again. “Were things different, I would have replaced looks with deeds long since.”  
“And what makes you stay your hand?”  
“Reason... is that you were a slave.”

“I know you mean no offence as you said so, but it is hard to remain convinced.” Nasir narrowed his eyes.  
“If you let me explain?” Agron asked after dragging a hand down his face.  
Nasir nodded.

“It is not... I do not see a slave... beneath me,” he began haltingly. “Yet you were a body slave and... giving your body was what you had to do, without thinking and resistance,” he went on, his voice hardly carrying. “And I would not have you think reason for my hesitation is believing you soiled, but...” He covered his face with his hands. “Fuck,” he muttered into his palms.

Nasir looked at him for a moment, then he sighed, a move that made him wince again. “You concern is that my will in this matter would not entirely be my own, is it not?”

Agron dropped his hands again and nodded, his lips pressed tightly together. 

“Shackles of slavery are not as easily shed as the collar I bore around my neck,” Nasir said after some time of silently watching the warrior before him who could not have looked any more miserable. “Yet in this I know my mind. I did not pursue desire believing me not really of interest for a man such as you. I found myself thinking often about sharing a bed with you.” The mischievous smile was back. 

“And yet such is not my desire,” Agron replied after a pause. “Or not entirely. It was... I did... I was...” He dropped his head back with a growl. “Fuck the gods!”  
“Since I have nowhere else to be at present I gladly wait for you to sort restive thoughts,” Nasir said with a smile. 

It vanished instantly when Agron looked up at him with burning eyes. 

“Apologies,” Nasir said, abashed. “I meant no offence.”

One corner of Agron’s mouth curved up in a wry half-smile. “Give me a neck to break or a head to remove from shoulders, I would feel more at ease,” he said. “I was not made for talk such as this.”  
“Speak your mind then as it is,” Nasir replied softly. “I shall wrest meaning from your words, as tumbled as they may be.”

Agron paused and looked at him. 

“I do not fear lightly,” he said eventually. “Faced with death in arena or battle, there is no fear. Yet I felt it too recent to be able to put it aside.”  
Nasir kept looking at him, his face calm.  
“I felt it...” Agron’s voice grew husky. “I felt it when I saw you at death’s door. And fear...” His voice began to tremble. “Fear is not what you feel when you watch someone die whose ass you wanted to bury your cock in.”

Nasir swallowed hard, looking at Agron’s eyes that were misting over. 

“It is the kind of fear I felt for my brother,” Agron when on in a rough, unsteady voice. “And watching him die tore my heart out of my chest. And I swore to the gods...” He looked up, his eyes burning and red. “I swore to the gods never to be that vulnerable again. And they...” He gave a mirthless laugh. “They piss on me. Listen to him, they say. Listen to that mortal fool. We shall send someone to prove him wrong.” His voice broke on those last words. 

The meagre flame of the oil lamp flickered, making shadows dance across the wall. 

“But if those are your feelings,” Nasir whispered after a long moment, “then why are you so opposed to acting upon desire?”  
“Because what I desire...” Agron’s voice was still trembling and rough. “What I desire is more than you are willing to give.”  
A crooked smile appeared on Nasir’s lips. “Confidence in knowing another’s thoughts has brought many a man to ruin,” he said. “For often, those assumptions prove wrong.”

Agron swallowed so hard it was audible. 

Nasir reached out with his right hand. “My desires have long since gone past roaming hands on naked skin,” he said softly. “Joined by desire to share thoughts and company.” He opened his hand, and after a moment of hesitation, Agron closed his trembling fingers around it. “And above all, bringing the smile back onto your face. It is a sight I cherish.”

Their eyes met, and Nasir closed his fingers around Agron’s, his grip still weak despite it being his uninjured side. 

“Were I in better state I would let my words be followed by deed,” he whispered, his eyes still locked with Agron’s while a smile formed on his lips. He tugged, and brought their joined hands up to his face. Agron stared at him with parted lips as Nasir leaned his cheek against the back of Agron’s hand. 

And after a few heartbeats, Agron reached out with his other hand and rested it on Nasir’s cheek. He leaned forward, and they both closed their eyes as their lips met in a kiss that was soft, hesitant and almost shy. The next one was as soft but less shy, and as Agron’s thumb caressed Nasir’s cheek they continued sharing soft, tender kisses. 

Yet when Agron leaned back after breaking the kiss, a deep line instantly appeared on Nasir’s forehead. 

“Nasir?” He asked softly, searching Nasir’s eyes that were turning dark and dull.  
“My wound gives me trouble,” Nasir replied.  
“Do you need more medicine?”  
“I would have some water first, if you would not mind.”

Agron nodded, and as he leaned back a shy smile appeared on his lips. He turned towards the small table and poured some water from the jug into a wooden cup, and carefully cradling Nasir’s head in the crook of his arm, helped him drink. After that he poured another cup, but added some of the elixir to it that would ease the pain. 

Nasir forced the obviously disgusting concoction down his throat, and gave Agron a weak smile as the latter bedded Nasir’s head back onto the pillow. “Gratitude,” he whispered huskily.

Agron rested his hand on Nasir’s cheek again and looked down at him with a tender smile. 

“Rest,” he said softly. “I shall watch over you.”  
“I wish I would not need protection,” Nasir said with an unhappy frown.  
“Yet you do, at present. Until such time I taught you how to protect yourself.”

The smile was back on Nasir’s face, but his eyelids grew heavy.

“Sleep now, little man,” Agron said again, caressing Nasir’s cheek. “Morning will see you better.” He dropped a soft kiss between Nasir’s eyebrows. 

Nasir closed his eyes, and Agron still held on to his hand, until the grip of Nasir’s fingers had loosened. He carefully placed the arm next to his body and leaned back, yet let his fingers linger for a moment on the back of Nasir’s hand. Then he straightened up, wiped his own hand across his eyes and rested his back against the wall after stretching out his legs before him. 

He stared straight ahead, but a small, love-sick smile grew on his face.


End file.
